Greg Martin

Boyce Schulze Downey Professor
Greg Martin
gbm7@cornell.edu
Office/Lab: 327/326
Phone: 607-254-1208
Office/Lab: 327/326
Email: gbm7@cornell.edu
Lab Phone: 607-220-9610
Graduate Fields: Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology; Plant Biology
Research Overview

How do bacteria infect plants and how do plants defend themselves from such attacks?

The long-term goal of research in the Martin laboratory is to use knowledge gained about the molecular basis of plant-pathogen interactions to develop plants with increased natural resistance to diseases. Such plants would require fewer applications of pesticides producing economic and environmental benefits while providing food for consumers with less pesticide residue.

The Martin laboratory studies the molecular basis of bacterial infection processes and the plant immune system. The research focuses on speck disease which is caused by the infection of tomato leaves with the bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato. This is an economically important disease that can decrease both the yield and quality of tomato fruits. It also serves as an excellent experimental system for studying the molecular mechanisms that underlie plant-pathogen interactions and how they have evolved. Many experimental resources, including an increasing number of genome sequences, are available for both tomato and P. s. pv. tomato. Current work relies on diverse experimental approaches involving methods derived from the fields of biochemistry, bioinformatics, cell biology, forward and reverse genetics, genomics, molecular biology, plant breeding, plant pathology and structural biology.

Research in the Martin lab is supported, in part, by: USDA-BARD IS-4931-16C, NSF IOS-1451754 and NSF-IOS-1546625

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In the interaction of Pseudomonas with tomato, the plant responds rapidly to a potential infection by detecting certain conserved molecules expressed by the pathogen. At this stage, the pathogen uses a specialized secretion system to deliver virulence proteins, such as AvrPto and AvrPtoB, into the plant cell. These pathogen proteins suppress early host defenses and thereby promote disease susceptibility. Some tomato varieties express a resistance gene, Pto, which encodes a protein that detects the presence of AvrPto or AvrPtoB and activates a second strong immune system that halts the progression of bacterial speck disease.

The Martin lab is currently studying many aspects of the molecular mechanisms that underlie the bacterial infection process and the plant response to infection. One project takes advantage of the genetic natural variation present in wild relatives of tomato to identify new genes that contribute to plant immunity. These genes provide insights into the plant immune system and also can be bred into new tomato varieties to enhance disease resistance. A second project relies on next-generation sequencing methods to identify tomato genes whose expression increases during the interaction with P. s. pv. tomato. The expression of these genes is then reduced by using virus-induced gene silencing or the genes are mutated using CRISPR/Cas9 to test whether they make a demonstrable contribution to immunity.

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Martin Lab Pedigree

Evolution of immunity

Evolution of pathogen recognition and defense responses in wild species of tomato and tomato heirloom varieties.

Pattern-triggered immunity

The plant immune system 1: Mechanisms underlying recognition and response to microbe-associated molecular patterns.

Effector-triggered immunity

The plant immune system II: Mechanisms underlying recognition and response to pathogen effector proteins.

AvrPto virulence mechanisms

Virtulence mechanisms of the AvrPto effector protein from Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato.

Methods to study plant immunity

Development of methods and resources to study the plant immune system.

Nicotiana benthamiana genome project

Nicotiana benthamiana genome project.

Intern Projects
Identifying natural variation in the plant immune system using cultivated and wild species of tomato and investigating the underlying mechanisms through gene mapping-by-sequencing and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing methods.

The Martin laboratory studies the molecular basis of plant immunity and bacterial pathogenesis. Our focus is on the infection of tomato by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato as this interaction results in bacterial speck, an economically important disease, and also serves as a powerful model system for understanding fundamental mechanisms involved in plant-pathogen biology. On the bacterial side, we study virulence proteins and associated mechanisms that the pathogen uses to interfere with the plant immune response. On the plant side, we identify and characterize genes, proteins and molecular mechanisms that play a role in host immunity and susceptibility. Our work relies on natural variation for these traits that is present in cultivated tomato and in the 12 wild relatives of tomato that originated in South America. For the characterization of both plant and bacterial genes and proteins, we use a variety of experimental approaches including biochemistry, bioinformatics, genetics, genomics, molecular biology, and structural biology.

Examples of research projects in my laboratory include: 1) Using tomato varieties that have natural variation in their immune system to clone and characterize the genes responsible; 2) Using CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing methods to mutate immunity-associated genes and investigate alterations in the plant defense system; and 3) Investigating bacterial proteins that play a key role in promoting pathogenesis and virulence.

Representative publication: https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/nph.15788

Interns in the Martin Lab are funded by NSF IOS-1451754 and REU-1358843.

Internship Program | Projects & FacultyApply for an Internship
Ptr1 and ZAR1 immune receptors confer overlapping and distinct bacterial pathogen effector specificities
2023.
Ahn, Y.J., Kim, H., Choi, S., Mazo-Molina, C., Prokchorchik, M., Zhang, N., Kim, B., Mang, H., Koehler, N., Kim, J., Lee, S., Yoon, H., Choi, D., Kim, M.S., Segonzac, C., Martin, Gregory B., Schultink, A., Sohn, K.H.
New Phytologist.
:
Loss-of-function mutations in WRKY22 and WRKY25 impair stomatal-mediated immunity and PTI and ETI responses against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato
2023.
Ramos, R.N., Zhang, N., Lauff, D.B., Valenzuela-Riffo, F., Figueroa, C.R., Martin, Gregory B., Pombo, M.A., Rosli, H.G.
Plant Molecular Biology.
112
:
161–177
Tomato receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase Fir1 interacts with a negative regulator of jasmonic acid signaling
2023.
Sobol, G., Martin, Gregory B., Sessa, G.
MicroPubl Biol..
:
Tomato receptor-like cytoplasmic kinase Fir1 is involved in flagellin signaling and pre-invasion immunity
2022.
Sobol, G., Majhi, B.B., Pasmanik-Chor, M., Zhang, N., Roberts, H.M., Martin, Gregory B., Sessa, G.
Plant Physiol..
:
Loss of function of the bHLH transcription factor Nrd1 in tomato enhances resistance to Pseudomonas syringae
2022.
Zhang, N., Hecht, C., Sun, X., Fei, Zhangjun, Martin, Gregory B.
Plant Physiol..
190
:
1334–1348
The emerging role of PP2C phosphatases in tomato immunity.
2022.
Sobol, G., Chakraborty, J., Martin, Gregory B., Sessa, G.
Mol Plant Microbe Interact..
:
A Solanum lycopersicoides reference genome facilitates insights into tomato specialized metabolism and immunity.
2022.
Powell, A.F., Feder, A., Li, J., Schmidt, M.H., Courtney, L., Alseekh, S., Jobson, E.M., Vogel, A., Xu, Y., Lyon, D., Dumschott, K., McHale, M., Sulpice, R., Bao, K., Lal, R., Duhan, A., Hallab, A., Denton, A.K., Bolger, M.E., Fernie, A.R., Hind, S.R., Mueller, Lukas A., Martin, Gregory B., Fei, Zhangjun, Martin, C., Giovannoni, James J., Strickler, S.R., Usadel, B.
Plant J..
110
:
1791–1810
Integrative Proteomic and Phosphoproteomic Analyses of Pattern- and Effector-Triggered Immunity in Tomato
2021.
Yu, J., Gonzalez, J.M., Dong, Z., Shan, Q., Tan, B., Koh, J., Zhang, T., Zhu, N., Dufresne, C., Martin, Gregory B., Chen, S.
Front Plant Sci..
12
:
768693
Spelling Changes and Fluorescent Tagging With Prime Editing Vectors for Plants
2021.
Wang, L., Kaya, H. B., Zhang, N., Rai, R., Willmann, M. R., Carpenter, S., Read, A. C., Martin, F., Fei, Zhangjun, Leach, J. E., Martin, Gregory B., & Bogdanove, A. J.
Frontiers in Genome Editing.
3
:
WRKY22 and WRKY25 transcription factors are positive regulators of defense responses in Nicotiana benthamiana
2020.
Ramos, R.N., Martin, Gregory B., Pombo, M.A., Rosli, H.G.
Plant Mol Biol..
:
Molecular Characterization of Differences Between the Tomato Immune Receptors Flagellin Sensing 3 and Flagellin Sensing 2
2020.
Roberts, R., Liu, A.E., Wan, L., Geiger, A.M., Hind, S.R., Rosli, H.G., Martin, Gregory B.
Plant Physiol..
:
Ptr1 evolved convergently with RPS2 and Mr5 to mediate recognition of AvrRpt2 in diverse solanaceous species.
2020.
Mazo-Molina, C., Mainiero, S., Haefner, B.J., Bednarek, R., Zhang, J., Feder, A., Shi, K., Strickler, S.R., Martin, Gregory B.
Plant J..
:
Tomato wall-associated kinase SlWak1 depends on Fls2/Fls3 to promote apoplastic immune responses to Pseudomonas syringae.
2020.
Zhang, N., Pombo, M.A., Rosli, H.G., Martin, Gregory B.
Plant Physiol..
:
Generation and Molecular Characterization of CRISPR/Cas9-Induced Mutations in 63 Immunity-Associated Genes in Tomato Reveals Specificity and a Range of Gene Modifications
2020.
Zhang, N., Roberts, H.M., Van Eck, Joyce, Martin, Gregory B.
Frontiers in Plant Science.
11
:
Transcriptome-based identification and validation of reference genes for plant-bacteria interaction studies using Nicotiana benthamiana
2019.
Pombo, M.A., Ramos, R.N., Zheng, Y., Fei, Zhangjun, Martin, Gregory B., Rosli, H.G.
Sci Rep..
9
:
Mai1 protein acts between host recognition of pathogen effectors and MAPK signaling
2019.
Roberts, R., Hind, S.R., Pedley, K.F., Diner, B.A., Szarzanowicz, M.J., Luciano-Rosario, D., Majhi, B.B., Popov, G., Sessa, G., Oh, C-S., Martin, Gregory B.
Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions.
:
PP2C phosphatase Pic1 negatively regulates phosphorylation status of Pti1b kinase, a regulator of flagellin-triggered immunity in tomato
2019.
Giska, F., Martin, Gregory B.
Biochemical Journal.
476
:
1621–1635
Natural variation for unusual host responses and flagellin‐mediated immunity against Pseudomonas syringae in genetically diverse tomato accessions
2019.
Roberts, R., Mainiero, S., Powell, A., Liu, A., Shi, K., Hind, S., Strickler, S., Collmer, A., Martin, Gregory B.
New Phytologist.
:
Transcriptome-based identification and validation of reference genes for plant-bacteria interaction studies using Nicotiana benthamiana
2019.
Pombo, M.A., Ramos, R.N., Zheng, Y., Fei, Zhangjun, Martin, Gregory B., Rosli, H.G.
Scientific Reports.
9
:
Plant Genome Editing Database (PGED): A Call for Submission of Information about Genome-Edited Plant Mutants
2019.
Zheng,Y., Zhang, N., Martin, Gregory B., Fei, Zhangjun
Molecular Plant.
12
:
127–129
Flagellin-sensing 3 (‘fls3’) protein and methods of use
Greg Martin
US Patent: 10,557,145
Bacterial effector proteins which inhibit programmed cell death
Greg Martin
US Patent: 7,888,467
Nucleic acids encoding pseudomonas hop proteins and use thereof
Greg Martin
US Patent: 7,138,569
Nucleic acids encoding proteins with pathogen resistance activity and plants transformed therewith
Greg Martin
US Patent: 6,653,533
Gene conferring disease resistance to plants by responding to an avirulence gene in plant pathogens
Greg Martin
US Patent: 5,648,599

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